Tarnos - La Digue Surf Forecast and Surf Report

Alright, Rusty here, pulling up the long-range charts for our local stretch. Let's talk about Tarnos.

Alright, so I’m looking at the next couple of weeks and, to be brutally honest, it’s a tough period for us. For the most part, the surf is small and the conditions are messy. There’s a real lack of solid, clean swell. A lot of the weekdays are looking pretty flat, with only a few scraps to be had. If you’re really keen, there are a couple of mornings that might give you a window, but nothing to get the heart racing. For the first week, it's mostly about getting a paddle in rather than scoring.

For the first solid run of decent conditions, you’d be looking at the early part of Sunday, July 5. The morning session is the pick. We’ve got a real winner with the water temp, sitting at 74°F, which is a massive 7°F warmer than usual for this time of year – that’s very unusual, so you won’t need the thick wetsuit. The swell is tiny, 2ft from the NW with an 11-second period. The combined energy is weak, sitting at 133, so it’s a very small, pretty gutless little wave. But the wind is magic - a light 3 mph from the NE, which is a cross-off breeze. That means clean, lined-up waves for the small stuff. For a beginner at Tarnos - La Digue, it’s as friendly as it gets, just don’t expect any power. The afternoon takes a turn with the wind swinging NNW and building to 9 mph, going cross-shore and making things messy.

Keep an eye on the morning of Monday, July 6. Again, the swell is small, 2ft from the NW, 9-second period, and energy is really dropping off to 64. But if you get up early, you’ve got a light 6 mph wind from the East, which is directly offshore. That will groom the tiny waves into clean little runners. It’s a one-session day, though, as the wind goes cross-off in the afternoon.

Honestly, from Tuesday the 7th right through to the middle of the month, it’s a write-off for proper surfing. The swell stays below 3ft, the direction is all over the place, and the wind is mostly onshore or cross-onshore. It’s just chop and mush. This is a long gap with no truly surfable recommendations.

There is a little flicker of life on Sunday, July 12. The morning has a bit more size at 3ft from the WNW with a 10-second period, and the energy jumps to 138. The wind is a light 6 mph from the NNE, which is a clean cross-off. It would be surfable but still very ordinary. The wave comment says "surfable waves but very ordinary conditions", and the morning score is a 1/10, so again, it's only for the die-hards.

Then, into the weekend of July 17 (Friday) , things get interesting, but not in a good way for paddle surfing. The swell jumps to 6ft from the WNW, and the energy hits 261 - that’s moderate wave energy. The problem is, the wind is a solid 9 mph from the West, which is dead onshore. That’s going to turn the beach/jetty setup at Tarnos - La Digue into a washing machine. For an exposed beach break with onshore wind and a moderate to strong combined swell energy of 261, this looks more like a kite-surfing setup than a clean wave for a board. That Saturday morning, July 18, is an even joke—25 mph onshore winds. Forget it.

To sum it up: if you have to get wet in the next couple of weeks, set the alarm for the mornings of Sunday the 5th or Monday the 6th of July. The waves won’t be memorable, but the clean conditions will make it the best of a bad bunch. For anything else, the forecast is too poor to recommend.

Rusty, signing off.

Read more